Your soul shines brighter than any fire and burns me twice as much. You were made for me in every way I needed you to be.
Your golden hair that flows like rays of sunshine in the wind. Your smooth lips that smirk in that quirky side smile that you do. Your tan skin that looks too enticing not to want to touch. I need you so bad I fear what I’ll do if I can’t get to you.
I’ll find you again, Sophia.
Wait and see.
Sophia
The next few days sort of blended together and became pretty routine. Unfortunately, there was still no word on where my cat was. Porter had made good on his promise and called all the shelters but hadn’t come up with anything. He did make up some fliers and had them posted around my neighborhood while searching for him, in hopes maybe someone had seen him. Still, no phone calls. All I could do was wait.
The guys were more helpful than I ever imagined, not just by helping me find my fur baby, but in other ways I couldn’t have fathomed. They were setting alarms on their phones to help me remember my meds, waking up in the middle of the night to help me get to the bathroom, dropping whatever they were doing to make me food if I was hungry. They did absolutely everything I needed and were so thoughtful and kind when they did.
It was almost overwhelming, but in a good way.
I started picking up on their personalities fairly quickly as well. Darren was the silent leader, always keeping a schedule for me and for them. He was a neat freak that cleaned up the house, even after he had a long shift. He was soft spoken but used his actions to convey what he was feeling. He’d come to my room a couple more times when the nightmares came back, all variations of the same thing where my dad would be there, yelling at me to get out of the house. Then I’d start to burn and would wake up screaming.
Darren never complained. He simply held me and calmed me down until I could sleep again. One night Alden had been home and joined him, but chose to sit beside us and just hold my hand.
Speaking of Alden, he turned out to be quite the troublemaker. When he found out Porter had bought me tacos and let me eat them in his truck, he started a long drawn out discussion on why neither him nor Darren were allowed to do that. When Porter told him it was because I was cuter, Alden proceeded to start pranking Porter by leaving smelly things in hard to find places in the truck. It ended in a big wrestling match out back that Darren refused to let me watch. He claimed it would taint my view of them.
And Porter? Talk about a cuddly giant. When he wasn’t on shift, he’d take any chance he could to snuggle up next to me on the couch and watch movies. He was ahugemovie buff and enjoyed sharing his different tastes with me. All the while, he’d be playing with my hair or massaging my feet as gently as he could without disturbing my burns.
All in all, I was being spoiled rotten. The awkwardness of being here faded away faster than it had come, and I was settling in nicely with them. The pain was still pretty agonizing sometimes, especially when I had to be moved. My hand was doing much better, though it too was still very sensitive. While a girl could get used to being carried everywhere by some seriously delicious men, I longed for the day I could start using the wheelchair.
I’d always been an independent person, so not doing most things for myself was quite weird. No matter how good it felt to have help.
As for the investigation into the fire, the guys hadn’t said if they knew anything. But I’d received a call from the fire marshal that he needed to speak with me. After talking it over with the guys, they agreed Friday would work, so I set it up and had Darren put me in the living room so the man wouldn’t have to come into the bedroom to talk.
My nerves were all over the place the moment the knock sounded at the front door.
Porter and Alden had asked for today as the day the marshal came because it was their day to take their Kelly Day, or mandatory day off. They hadn’t wanted to miss out. They were almost, if not just as, concerned as I was about what happened.
Darren answered the door and walked him to me. The man was older, maybe in his mid-fifties, with a big white, bushy mustache and wore a nice suit and tie. Followed behind him was another man that was maybe a bit younger who also wore a nice suit. His dark salt and pepper hair was clean cut and his beard well trimmed. I wasn’t sure who was who, but both men looked pretty official.
The white-haired man held out his right hand to me. “Hello, Miss Harding. I’m Stuart Warren, the fire marshal.” I shook his hand politely then turned to the other man who also reached out for a handshake.
“I’m Detective Sean Kent. I hope you don’t mind that Warren here brought me along.”
“Not at all. Please, have a seat,” I told them, waving my hand to the empty couch across from me. They sat and the guys stood around the room, all three looking pensive and a bit on edge. I knew how they felt.
“I understand you’re still healing from the fire that happened?” Mr. Warren asked, pointing to my bandaged legs peeking out from beneath the blanket I sat under.
“Yes. They’re healing nicely though. I work in the burn unit at Memorial Hospital, so I’ve been able to track how it’s going.”
Detective Kent pulled out a small notebook and began to write something down.
Mr. Warren continued. “I’m sorry for the loss of your house and for your injuries. We had some interesting developments with the case and I wanted to share those with you. Detective Kent is also helping out since the evidence is pointing to possible attempted murder.”
The news of what evidence they must’ve found pointing to someone intentionally setting the fire, stunned me.
“Excuse me, but, did you say attempted murder?” My eyes snapped to Darren, then, Porter, and finally Alden. All three didn’t look the least bit surprised. “Did you know?” I asked them.
Darren came over and squatted next to me. “We weren’t certain. It was a guess because the way the fire moved so rapidly, and how your fire alarm hadn’t gone off. We thought maybe the alarm had been tampered with and guessed an accelerant was most likely used.”
My mouth opened and closed as the horror of this set in.
“Therewasan accelerant; gasoline to be precise. The central starting point was the last bedroom down the hall and the kitchen. Both had been heavily doused, which explains why it was the worst there. You’re lucky you didn’t have any kind of gas in your home like your stove or heating. That would’ve caused an explosion that would’ve for sure killed you before you even woke up and realized what was happening.”
